All about the flavor of a small mountain city and the surrounding outback: neighborhood surprises ... wildflowers and nature ... the forest ... people and events ... plus occasional comments on science fiction, music, and the Great Wide World Beyond

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Where there's smoke...

The other morning, I looked out my window on the side of the hill to this sight, part way up the hills to the north of the bowl that holds Prescott. Living in the dry Southwest, smoke is scary. Living where the skies are clear, smoke is very evident, from miles away.

The smoke had already drifted well to the east of its origin. Fortunately, within maybe 20 minutes, the fire was completely out and the air was clearing. A closer shot suggests that whatever was burning was just up the hill from the old officers' houses at Whipple (below).

The Arizona Snow Pack: What an El Nino we've had! Take a look at them purple mountain majesties on this map, representing as they do a big winter for snow in our fair state. I'm told that Flag has had about 10 feet this year, not quite an all time high but almost. See what you've missed by moving to Alaska, dotter?